Drift On
by Whedonist
Summary: Set of shorts featuring Alex and Olivia


Disclaimer: Not mine - I think I've mentioned before that they belong to Dick Wolf and NBC - *sigh* I miss Kick Ass Olivia and Alex working together.

A/N: As an admitted audiophile, most of my stuff uses music to drive my inspiration. The Script - while not my usual flavor inspired this set of shorts. Titles are from their sophmore release - Science and Faith.

* * *

><p><span>Drift On<span>

**You Won't Feel A Thing**

"Alex, are you going to be okay?" Olivia worried her lower lip as she outfitted the six-month old SVU A.D.A. with a wire. This wasn't how she saw this panning out. Granted they needed someone to set Perry Gibson at ease. They needed someone who he hasn't seen during the investigation into the serial rapists.

She just didn't think that Donnelly or Cragen would support the lawyer's insistence on helping them nail the prick.

"Olivia, I really wish you'd stop your coddling," Alex finally snapped. Yes, she was worried. No, she didn't think this was the best idea she had ever had, but…something told her she needed to assist in any way that she could. As she looked down at the detective kneeling in front of her, that feeling just reinforced itself. It also dragged a dream to the forefront of her already active mind. The reality wasn't nearly as sexy as it had been in her dream.

Olivia looked back up at Alex, securing the last of the wire with a piece of tape and standing. She came up, a few inches shy of having her nose brush against the blonde's in front of her. While the detective saw the firm set of the woman's jaw, a small storm of insecurity and worry raged in the sapphire blues.

Alex tried to smile, a soft smile that was supposed to disarm the detective as she said, "Olivia, I…"

Unable to resist, Olivia's hand gripped Alex's waist and she squeezed. "I'll be with you every step of the way. He won't lay a hand on you."

Alex's breath hitched at the intensity of the words and the unspoken promise they held. Resisting the initial urge to lean in and kiss the corner of full, undoubtedly soft lips. Alex coughed and broke eye contact, chastising the very near unprofessional and most certainly unwanted advance on the short haired detective.

Olivia watched as Alex spun away from her to button up the cream silk blouse. She licked her lips as her breath finally came back to her. Maybe one day she'd get the courage to ask Alex out. Today was most certainly not the day.

* * *

><p><strong>For The First Time<strong>

Alex watched from her perch on the stool at the bar as Olivia bustled in from the winter cold. She watched as her lover of the past seven years shook the snow from the collar of the coat she wore and searched the bar for her. Their eyes locked briefly, but the lawyer couldn't maintain the contact; instead she looked back down into the now three times empty wine glass.

She felt Olivia slide in next to her on the left. Her lover didn't say anything, just laced her fingers together and rested them casually on top of the bar, signaling for a club soda. Alex's head swiveled to take in Olivia's mood. She snorted and waved her empty glass around as she spoke, "Does it strike you odd that we're the player's in an ass backwards cliché?"

A dark, sculpted eyebrow rose in question, but the detective remained silent.

Trying to prove her point, Alex pressed, "Think about it Liv. It's you that's supposed to be sitting here, getting drunk, feeling like a complete loser. You're the detective. Instead, it's me. I haven't been home. It feels like I barely know you…" Alex choked back the small sob that threatened to make its way up. "I barely know me right now. It…just feels like everything is falling apart."

Olivia let her lover say what she felt she needed to say before wrapping her arm around the blonde's thin waist and pulling her closer. "Donnelly called me. She told me you quit today." She felt Alex nod against her shoulder as warm wet tears dripped down her neck. "So, Cragen gave me some of my saved time. Why don't we go home, crack open a bottle of wine and talk. It'll be like the first time you came to my place." She stroked the soft blonde hair and kissed the top of her girlfriend's head. "We can get to know each other all over again and this time, it won't be nearly as scary." Olivia felt a shudder then heard a sniffle. "Come on, Councilor. Pretend it's our first time and let's get to know each other again?"

Alex blinked away the last of the tears and looked into loving brown eyes. She nodded and warmed at the sight of Olivia's smile. Olivia helped Alex into her coat and settled the lawyer's tab before taking them home, knowing that they could get through this. Alex knew that starting over would be hard, but it wouldn't be nearly as hard with Olivia already by her side.

* * *

><p><strong>Nothing<strong>

Olivia pulled the last box of Alex's from the closet. It was the last bit of stuff that needed to be gone through for the detective to have officially moved in. The grin that both women were sporting for the past three days wasn't threatening it's departure anytime soon. In fact, it grew wider when Alex stepped into their bedroom and took the box from Olivia.

She lifted the lid as Olivia set down next to her on the bed and crossed her legs. "What's in the box?"

Alex rolled her eyes at the child like amusement on her normally reserved partner. "This," she said waving the lid around before tossing it on the floor, "is the last bit of stuff, less my text books, from Undergrad." Alex pulled out a few pictures, a purple and blue scarf, some ticket stubs and one frame holding two pictures.

Olivia cocked her head to the side and studied Alex first and then the frame in her lover's hands. The furrowed brow was one thing, but one of the two pictures behind the glass showed Alex with her arms wrapped around a young Jennifer Connelly look alike. In the other photo the two women had switched positions. Unable to resist, Olivia asked, "Who's that?"

A weary smile ghosted over Alex's face before she answered, "Her name is Melissa Larson."

"Hmm, and?" Olivia prodded, wanting to know the story.

Alex looked her lover over, knowing that she could share this story and not worry about her reaction, but Alex wasn't sure that she wanted to relive it.

"She's obviously an ex, Alex . Come on," the detective playfully bumped her girlfriend's shoulder, "tell me." She wiggled her eyebrows and Alex shook her head.

"Fine, Melissa was the first. The first girl I ever loved, the first that made me realize I was gay," she answered.

Olivia frowned and laid her hand on Alex's upper thigh, squeezing it in support.

Swallowing, Alex told her the story, "She was also the cause of my first broken heart. We met my freshman year. We got together midway through our Junior year. She broke it off our Senior year." Her fingertips traced down the smooth, cool glass and she finished, "My friends took me out to try and get over her. I spent the last few weeks before spring break drunk and had the brilliant idea of trying to convince her to take me back. I showed up in the middle of the night at her apartment." Alex gave a small bitter laugh. "I thought that if she knew how much I missed her, loved her; she'd have to take me back."

Olivia asked softly, "Did she?"

Alex shook her head. "I slurred my words, but got my point across. Melissa said nothing and then shut the door in my face."

Olivia gently pulled the frame from Alex's fingers, put it back in the box and placed it on the floor next to its lid. She gathered her lover in her arms and rested Alex's head in the crook of her arm. "I'm sorry."

Alex looked up into Olivia's eyes and grabbed the detective's left hand to play with the diamond on her ring finger. She shrugged. "I'm not. I think," Alex said as she met Olivia's gaze, "It worked out better for me anyhow."

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><p><strong>Science and Faith<strong>

Olivia dropped her keys on the end table of the foyer. Her coat went over the only available hook on the coat rack to her left and she sighed. Mopping her face with her right hand, she rubbed her eyes and shuffled into the living room. It was the fourth night this week in an on-going investigation that brought her home after midnight, smelling of cigarette smoke and cheap perfume.

The only thought that could make its way through her sleep deprived brain was that she wanted this case over. Moving into the living room, she stopped in the pool of dim light provided by the lamp next to the couch. Alex sat there, back rigid, eyes red and jaw clenched.

Olivia visibly winced.

"Where have you been?" Alex clipped. Despite the strength and force of her words, Olivia heard the slight tremor.

Looking away, Olivia looked down at the coffee table and cursed, "Damn it." Sitting there in a row was her shirt from the previous night, a matchbook and a key card from a hotel in East Harlem.

"Olivia, I asked you a question," Alex snipped.

"Stakeout," the lie rolled off of Olivia's tongue. She couldn't tell Alex about the case. She couldn't tell her where she'd been and what she'd been doing. They had promised each other before they decided to live together that Olivia wouldn't take the more dangerous undercover cases, but this one…

This one case didn't leave Olivia much choice. Three women, brutally beaten, raped and tortured for days on end before they were finally killed and dumped on the Lower East Side demanded her attention.

Alex stood in response to the lie Olivia fed her and pointed at the items on the coffee table. "Gee, Olivia that's funny because I called Cragen. You left the precinct hours ago." The first tear fell and Olivia watched as it made its decent to splash against the glass of the top of the coffee table. "I found your shirt when I was doing the laundry this evening. I found those," she pointed to the key card and matchbook, "In the pocket of your jeans."

Alex stepped into Olivia's space, gripping her arms and forcing the detective to look at her. "Who is she?"

Olivia clenched her eyes shut and shook her head.

"Don't fucking lie to me Olivia, the evidence sitting on our coffee table doesn't lie," Alex pleaded.

Olivia felt her own tears fall. The tears sliding down her cheeks, dripping to pool in the hollow of her throat as she whispered, "Sometimes things aren't always what they appear."

Alex let go of Olivia to step back and wrap her arms around her midsection.

Olivia opened her eyes and pleaded herself, "I'm working undercover. It's part of my cover."

"Bullshit," Alex spat.

Shaking her head, Olivia tried again, "I wouldn't cheat on you Alex. I wouldn't risk the only thing in my life that gives me an ounce of faith that things can be good for a quick fuck in a cheap motel." She moved then, shouldering past her lover to move towards the bedroom. Before she closed the door she shot out over her shoulder, "I didn't think having faith in me was too much to ask."

* * *

><p><strong>If You Ever Come Back<strong>

Alex fingered the worn envelope in her coat pocket. The suitcase in her hand dropped next to her feet and she closed her eyes, standing in front of the apartment door. She didn't need to read the contents to know what it said. Certain lines, in neat precise handwriting, drifted across her mind's eye, "_Everything'll be the way you left it…I've been sleeping on your side of the bed…I miss the fighting, you giving me a hard time…If you ever come back, there'll be a smile on my face. I'll leave the kettle on and I'll leave it, just like you were never gone. I'll leave the light on in the hall and a key under the mat…I don't really mind risking everything I own, Alex. There's nothing they could take in a break-in that you don't have already…" _

The soft worn paper under her fingertips warmed her on nights stuck in the middle of nowhere. The words Olivia left her with gave the attorney hope when she really couldn't see anything but the life taken from her.

The front of Olivia's apartment stared back at her. She looked down at the doormat and smirked reading, 'Come back with a warrant' in block lettering. She shook her head trying to figure out who would have given her that. Her money was on Munch.

"You know that to get inside, you need a key right," came a voice she'd only heard in her dreams. The soft timbre sounded over her shoulder as did the gentle steps.

Alex didn't look behind her. Instead, she knelt down and lifted the mat up. Taped to the underside in the upper right hand corner was a key. She peeled it off, pinching the cold shiny metal between her thumb and index finger. She swallowed and righted herself.

She spun around with her eyes shut tight as familiar arms slipped around her waist. She clung to the brunette, breathing her in and mumbled, "You left me a key."

A gentle laugh from the detective shook both women as Olivia whispered, "You're home."

Alex nodded into the crook of Olivia's neck and relaxed for the first time in years.

* * *

><p><strong>This = Love<strong>

Alex had thought when she had asked Olivia Benson out for drinks several months ago that they would, like other trysts she'd had in the past, have a few drinks and go back to her apartment to work through the frustration of the day out on each other. She had thought that that first night that led to a weekly visit, if they could fit it in, would have fizzled once they used up their sexual chemistry.

But the week night visits, turned to a few weekend stays. The weekend stays turned to weekly stays and before the A.D.A. knew it, Olivia Benson was her girlfriend. They went on legitimate dates. They went drinking as a couple with Elliot and Kathy. Olivia attended the opera with her and Alex went to a Giants game with her. They each had clothes and a toothbrush at the other's place.

If you had asked Alexandra Cabot if the not-so-innocent proposition for drinks months ago would have led to Alex sitting up waiting on Olivia to come to her place at three in the morning, she would have called you crazy. So Olivia had to be out in the middle of the night to collar a child molester. Alex told her she'd wait up. She needed to know the detective was safe.

At four in the morning, Olivia let herself into Alex's apartment carrying breakfast in a white pastry bag and two cups of coffee. The detective stopped short as Alex lay asleep on the couch. Olivia gently set her coat and keys down then shuffled over to the couch, placing the coffee and pastry bag on the table before setting down next to her lover.

Reaching out, she brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen over Alex's bespectacled face. The movement caused the lawyer to stir and yawn. Blue eyes blinked open and a smile spread over Alex. "You're home," she yawned.

"I am. I got breakfast too. I was around that bakery you mentioned, Laurie's. I brought you home that croissant you raved about."

Alex smiled sleepily and pulled Olivia on top of her, breathing in the scent of the woman that was only supposed to be something she worked out of her system. Instead, she breathed in the scent of the woman that worked harder than most anyone she knew, that remembered a throw-away comment from weeks ago about a bakery she had tried with Donnelly and knew that it most certainly wasn't lust that she felt with Olivia in her arms…the emotion that washed over her was far stronger than she could have ever anticipated. Alexandra Cabot was okay with that.


End file.
